Apr. 24, 2014
|

Lake Superior remains clogged by ice in this NASA image taken earlier this week. / NASA

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

by Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

The cold winter and spring have caused a record amount of ice to remain on the Great Lakes, wreaking havoc with shipping and wildlife, according to data from Environment Canada, a government agency.

"It's been a very tough ice season on shipping," especially in the upper Lakes, says George Leshkevich, a scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He added that the unusual ice cover "has had societal, economic and ecological impacts."

As of Wednesday, ice covered 33.9% of the Great Lakes, the largest ice cover so late in the season since accurate measurements from satellites began in the late 1970s.

Usually by this time, all but about 2% of the Great Lakes are free of ice.

"Great Lakes ice coverage is shrinking but is still incredibly high for this time of year," says AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Anderson. "Even though the ice cover on the Great Lakes has steadily declined over the past month, the area of ice that remains is the highest in over 30 years."

"This is the worst winter since 1993 or 1994," Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the Lake Carriers' Association in Ohio, told Wawa News in Canada. "The last time ice breakers were out this late in the season convoying vessels was 1996. It's been a very brutal winter."

Lake Superior's ice cover was at 59.9% on Wednesday. This time last year, the total was 2.7%.

The ice has also led to duck die-offs, Leshkevich says, because they can't get to the water for food because of the ice cover. Necropsies confirm that the birds have died of starvation, Wawa News reported.

Fish spawning also will be delayed as it will take longer for water temperatures to rise. However, that could benefit some species of fish such as whitefish, according to Leshkevich, who says the ice cover protected their spawning beds from winter storms.